Chariots of Fire Posted January 15, 2014 Author Share Posted January 15, 2014 I got some work done on the engine and pumps for the rear also. This rig had two pumps, both powered by the Ford Model B engine. One from a direct shaft and sprocket and chain mechanism and the other from a takeoff unit attached to the side of the transmission. Lots of plumbing to be done on this rig! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Platerpants Posted January 15, 2014 Share Posted January 15, 2014 sweet!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hooknladderno1 Posted January 16, 2014 Share Posted January 16, 2014 Charlie, She looks great! I look forward to seeing how you tackle the tapered cylindrical bodywork on the sides of the cab. I see the ingenious use of boxing in the full diameter tubing on the sides of the truck body. I have thought about doing some of the 1960's Cadillac ambulances that no squad ran "back in the day", but replicating this detail has eluded me. David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chariots of Fire Posted January 16, 2014 Author Share Posted January 16, 2014 HI David. I think I have solved that problem. The photos of the rig show that they indeed taper so I've ordered some thick wall plastic tubing that I can taper using my lathe. But turning the headstock just a bit I can taper the tubing (I think!). The piece that extends along the cab doors is hinged at the body and drops into a slot just ahead of the doors. There is additional skirting and tubing that will extend the base tubing on the body toward the front tires. The plate in the front is just the beginning of quite a bit of fiddling and tweaking to get it right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chariots of Fire Posted January 19, 2014 Author Share Posted January 19, 2014 Here's an update on progress with the project. The front crowder plate has been mated to the sides temporarily. Once completed, the side rails opposite the doors will be cut free and will be hinged at the back end. For now things are just in place for fitting purposes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Platerpants Posted January 19, 2014 Share Posted January 19, 2014 starting to look nice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chariots of Fire Posted January 22, 2014 Author Share Posted January 22, 2014 Now that KS has stopped providing brass mesh I needed to find a new supplier. I found one in England called Scale Link Limited that has sheets of diamond pattern, and square pattern in a variety of sizes. I chose the thin diamond mesh for this rig and cut some strips to add to the body sides. They will be painted separate from the body so that the primer coat and color coats won't fill in the holes. They are quite small. Anyway here is the rig with the mesh taped in place just to see how it looks. There is a douple pipe rail on top of the body, I suppose doubled up to give it more stiffness without the piping being oversized. I used brass for the first one to give the body sides stiffness as well and to provide better support for the brass mesh. Over that I glued a piece of plastic rod of the same diameter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danno Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 Looking great! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Most Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 Got a bit more done on the body and front plate that protects the truck as it travels through the woods. Always wondered what those bow ramp-looking things were for, but never thought of asking anybody. Now I know. This puppy gets more and more impressive all the time, Charlie! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tesla Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 Awesome Charlie! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kilrathy10 Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 (edited) That's a good looking model, my friend.....Great scratchwork... Edited January 22, 2014 by kilrathy10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hooknladderno1 Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 Looking great Charlie! Do you have any close ups of the mesh? Looking for some for the intake grate on my Powerwagon project. David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tesla Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 Superb build Charlie. I've never seen a truck like this Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danno Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 Always wondered what those bow ramp-looking things were for, but never thought of asking anybody. Now I know. This puppy gets more and more impressive all the time, Charlie! Yep. Intended to bend small trees and large bushes down to allow the truck to pass over. Some pop back up after the truck passes, and some snap off near the ground, making a 'path' for the truck and any others that must follow. Quicker than cutting or chain-sawing each bush or tree. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chariots of Fire Posted January 23, 2014 Author Share Posted January 23, 2014 Here's a photo of the real truck on a demonstration run through a pine forest. Look closely and you will see that it has taken down a pitch pine that is about 6" diameter. These trees generally go over quite easily because their root structure is shallow and the soil where they grow is very loose and sandy. The one thing that can happen is that the root ball lifts up with it and sometimes can get caught between the tire and the fender opening. When that happens the only thing to do is either tow the truck out or cut off the root ball. When trees of this size go over then generally stay over. One very important rule of thumb for operating trucks such as these even today is that you never try and go against the grain in the path that is made. The truck would very quickly get hung up or taken out of commission by a punctured radiator, broken tie rod or worse. I have seen the results of a tree going right through the top of a fiberglas fender such as what is used on current rigs. With the newer models they are armored inside the fender well to keep that from happening. This rig is really a first generation style of brush truck. And they made a couple of mistakes in the design that has since been realized and corrected for modern rigs. First the rear overhang is excessive and at the same plane as the lower side rails. Today that overhang very short and much higher allowing for a good angle of departure when leaving hilly ground or dropping into the ruts of a dirt road from the side. Secondly the top rails taper in toward the front. The explanation given in the patent drawings was that when approaching two trees the truck could run between them spread them apart and then slide through with the wider and parallel bars that are on the body. The flaw in that however, is that sometimes the trees are a little to stubborn and don't want to move that easily and the truck gets wedged inbetween. Nowdays the upper as well as the lower side rails run parallel from front to back so that if the front end slips through it's almost certain the back will also. Today also there is much more protection in front over the hood and top of the cab in the form of small but stiff barwork and steel plates. You also see in the photo where the crew would ride. Today they do much the same thing although the area they stand in might be a bit lower so that they could duck out of the way of heavy tree branches. Still the chance of getting a good slap in the face from a tree that comes over the top is pretty good! Been there---done that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chariots of Fire Posted January 23, 2014 Author Share Posted January 23, 2014 One other thing in the photo that might be of interest. Note that the two firefighters manning the hand lines are directing the water slightly ahead of the front and sides of the truck. Normally both would not work at the same time as the truck would be following the edge of the burn putting out the ground fire that is on one side of it. That way as the truck approaches it is not running over hot flames. The trucks today work in tandem with the second piece picking up what fire the first truck did not extinquish. On this truck the lines are small gallonage but high pressure streams. Wide pattern fog streams are not used but rather a narrow fog or even a smooth bore nozzle might be used. The narrow and more powerful stream bores into the duff and reduces the chance of a rekindle after the truck has passed. A fog pattern would only get the surface fire and leave the hot material underneath. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chariots of Fire Posted January 23, 2014 Author Share Posted January 23, 2014 Looking great Charlie! Do you have any close ups of the mesh? Looking for some for the intake grate on my Powerwagon project. David Here is a closeup of the mesh. Those diamonds are less than a millimeter across. I got it at Scale Link Ltd out of the UK. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chariots of Fire Posted January 26, 2014 Author Share Posted January 26, 2014 After much tinkering and fitting, I got the doors to open and close on the cab. I used small "H" hinges and superglued them in place. Small pins were pushed into the edges of the door to help hold them solid. The heads of the pins were ground down to make sure there was clearance and no binding when the doors are closed. Here's the body back on the truck with the side bar open and the door open. And with the door closed and the bar back down in position. And if you were a tree standing in the woods and the truck was coming at you to knock you over, this is the view you would get! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Madd Trucker Posted January 27, 2014 Share Posted January 27, 2014 (edited) I like it an interesting project looks good Edited January 27, 2014 by Madd Trucker Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chariots of Fire Posted February 4, 2014 Author Share Posted February 4, 2014 Since the last post I've been doing some cleanup and a bit of finish work. Now that the doors are done and fit some work on the interior was begun. The dashboard is complete, a seat was finished and weathered and the floorboards are done. The headlights came from a '37 Ford p/u kit. Instead of installing them on the fenders where they would be useless the builders of the actual truck mounted them high and on a pivot that would allow them to be tilted down out of the way when travelling in the woods. Not much good however, if you are chasing hot spots in the woods at night! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HJK Posted February 6, 2014 Share Posted February 6, 2014 I've always been drawn to the older trucks with the curved shapes on fenders, hoods etc. and even if it might sound boring to you I'd like to express that I'm again amazed by your skill of scratchbuilding. In my view it's unbelievably stunning work. You again got me riveted to your project. Could you please tell where you'd get the wheels and tires? Their sturdiness neatly fit the general look of the truck. Juergen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chariots of Fire Posted February 6, 2014 Author Share Posted February 6, 2014 (edited) Juergen: The wheels are directly from the Yat Ming '38 Ford pumper diecast and they are correct for the actual truck. I modified them by removing the flange that held the soft tire on the rim and sanded the outer edges smooth. The tires were originally from a Matchbox Dodge Power Wagon. It had tires the correct size. The tread pattern is typically military mud and snow. The actual truck had tires with a slightly different pattern but these seemed to do the trick. Both the wheels and tires I had cast in resin. The inner surface of the tire was smoothed up so that the wheel would fit inside. They can be separated for painting and then will be put back together and installed on the axles. Edited February 6, 2014 by Chariots of Fire Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HJK Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 Charles, Thanks very much for your answer. I really look forward to seeing the progress on this project. I certainly will stay tuned. Enjoy the weekend. Juergen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chariots of Fire Posted February 19, 2014 Author Share Posted February 19, 2014 Got a bit more done on the rig. Chassis and cab now in paint. Still working on the body and some of the detail. But it's getting there! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeffs396 Posted February 19, 2014 Share Posted February 19, 2014 Looks GREAT! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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